A new analysis reveals that men spend more time than women on TV, exercise, and other leisure activities

An analysis by the Pew Research Center of pooled data from the American Time Use Survey reveals that, although men and women spend roughly the same amount of time working each week, men tend to have more leisure time than women.

According to the analysis, men spend an additional five hours each week watching television, exercising and doing other activities geared toward relaxation and recreation. The gender gap among working parents is slightly smaller, but working fathers have an average of three more hours of leisure time than working mothers each week.

The difference, particularly among couples with children, may be explained by how men and women spend their free time. Free time between activities is more fractured and less likely to become leisure time for women, as Pew notes:

Fathers and mothers seem to experience their free time differently. Mothers’ free time is often interrupted, which may make it hard for them to relax (Bianchi, et al. 2006; Mattingly & Bianchi 2003). Moreover, mothers tend to spend more time than fathers in multitasking; the additional hours spent on multitasking are mainly related to time spent on housework and child care (Offer & Schneider 2011).

Interestingly, despite the gender gap in leisure time, men and women were equally likely to report feeling that they had enough free time to do the things they want to do. Perhaps not surprisingly, the parents of young children were the least likely to say they had enough free time for recreation and relaxation: 52 percent of these parents report feeling pressed for time, while 70 percent of adults without children (or with children over the age of 18) say they have enough free time to pursue their interests.

The most leisure-inclined group of all? Retirees. More than 80 percent of men and women over the age of 65 say they have enough free time to unwind and do their thing.

Robots soon will become more human-like in appearance, researcher says

Humans could marry robots within the century. And consummate those vows.

"My forecast is that around 2050, the state of Massachusetts will be the first jurisdiction to legalize marriages with robots," artificial intelligence researcher David Levy at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands told LiveScience. Levy recently completed his Ph.D. work on the subject of human-robot relationships, covering many of the privileges and practices that generally come with marriage as well as outside of it.

At first, sex with robots might be considered geeky, "but once you have a story like 'I had sex with a robot, and it was great!' appear someplace like Cosmo magazine, I'd expect many people to jump on the bandwagon," Levy said.

The idea of romance between humanity and our artistic and/or mechanical creations dates back to ancient times, with the Greek myth of the sculptor Pygmalion falling in love with the ivory statue he made named Galatea, to which the goddess Venus eventually granted life.

This notion persists in modern times. Not only has science fiction explored this idea, but 40 years ago, scientists noticed that students at times became unusually attracted to ELIZA, a computer program designed to ask questions and mimic a psychotherapist.

"There's a trend of robots becoming more human-like in appearance and coming more in contact with humans," Levy said. "At first robots were used impersonally, in factories where they helped build automobiles, for instance. Then they were used in offices to deliver mail, or to show visitors around museums, or in homes as vacuum cleaners, such as with the Roomba. Now you have robot toys, like Sony's Aibo robot dog, or Tickle Me Elmos, or digital pets like Tamagotchis."

In his thesis, "Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners," Levy conjectures that robots will become so human-like in appearance, function and personality that many people will fall in love with them, have sex with them and even marry them.

"It may sound a little weird, but it isn't," Levy said. "Love and sex with robots are inevitable."

Sex with robots in 5 years Levy argues that psychologists have identified roughly a dozen basic reasons why people fall in love, "and almost all of them could apply to human-robot relationships. For instance, one thing that prompts people to fall in love are similarities in personality and knowledge, and all of this is programmable. Another reason people are more likely to fall in love is if they know the other person likes them, and that's programmable too."

In 2006, Henrik Christensen, founder of the European Robotics Research Network, predicted that people will be having sex with robots within five years, and Levy thinks that's quite likely. There are companies that already sell realistic sex dolls, "and it's just a matter of adding some electronics to them to add some vibration," he said, or endowing the robots with a few audio responses. "That's fairly primitive in terms of robotics, but the technology is already there."

As software becomes more advanced and the relationship between humans and robots becomes more personal, marriage could result. "One hundred years ago, interracial marriage and same-sex marriages were illegal in the United States. Interracial marriage has been legal now for 50 years, and same-sex marriage is legal in some parts of the states," Levy said. "There has been this trend in marriage where each partner gets to make their own choice of who they want to be with."

"The question is not if this will happen, but when," Levy said. "I am convinced the answer is much earlier than you think."

When and where it'll happen Levy predicts Massachusetts will be the first jurisdiction to legalize human-robot marriage. "Massachusetts is more liberal than most other jurisdictions in the United States and has been at the forefront of same-sex marriage," Levy said. "There's also a lot of high-tech research there at places like MIT."

Although roboticist Ronald Arkin at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta does not think human-robot marriages will be legal anywhere by 2050, "anything's possible. And just because it's not legal doesn't mean people won't try it," he told LiveScience.

"Humans are very unusual creatures," Arkin said. "If you ask me if every human will want to marry a robot, my answer is probably not. But will there be a subset of people? There are people ready right now to marry sex toys."

The main benefit of human-robot marriage could be to make people who otherwise could not get married happier, "people who find it hard to form relationships, because they are extremely shy, or have psychological problems, or are just plain ugly or have unpleasant personalities," Levy said. "Of course, such people who completely give up the idea of forming relationships with other people are going to be few and far between, but they will be out there."

Ethical questions The possibility of sex with robots could prove a mixed bag for humanity. For instance, robot sex could provide an outlet for criminal sexual urges. "If you have pedophiles and you let them use a robotic child, will that reduce the incidence of them abusing real children, or will it increase it?" Arkin asked. "I don't think anyone has the answers for that yet — that's where future research needs to be done."

Keeping a robot for sex could reduce human prostitution and the problems that come with it. However, "in a marriage or other relationship, one partner could be jealous or consider it infidelity if the other used a robot," Levy said. "But who knows, maybe some other relationships could welcome a robot. Instead of a woman saying, 'Darling, not tonight, I have a headache,' you could get 'Darling, I have a headache, why not use your robot?' "

Arkin noted that "if we allow robots to become a part of everyday life and bond with them, we'll have to ask questions about what's going to happen to our social fabric. How will they change humanity and civilization? I don't have any answers, but I think it's something we need to study. There's a real potential for intimacy here, where humans become psychologically and emotionally attached to these devices in ways we wouldn't to a vibrator."

Levy is currently writing a paper on the ethical treatment of robots. When it comes to sex and love with robots, "the ethical issues on how to treat them are something we'll have to consider very seriously, and they're very complicated issues," Levy said.

The new Zimbabwean constitution that President Robert Mugabe promulgated three days ago guarantees more democracy and freedom of expression, on paper at least, and Reporters Without Borders hopes that it will reduce the negative effect of the draconian laws currently in effect.

As a result of Zimbabwe’s repressive legislation, criminal charges are often brought against journalists just for doing their job. This has been seen yet again in recent cases of arrests and harassment.

The new constitution also opens the way for elections that have been awaited for years. President Mugabe wants them held as soon as possible and his party, Zanu-PF, thinks they could be held on 29 June. But the power-sharing government’s prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition MDC, wants several essential reforms adopted first, including media freedom reform.

“Aside from highlighting the disagreements and obstacles that have existed at the highest level ever since the power-sharing government’s formation four years ago, the conditions posed by Tsvangirai draw attention to the urgent need for news providers to be guaranteed the right to work freely and safely,” Reporters Without Borders said.

“The new constitution is a step forward but no satisfactory, transparent election is possible if journalists are prevented from working properly. In both Harare and in the provinces, Zimbabwean journalists, especially those who work for the privately-owned media, are the victims of harassment campaigns while journalists with the state-owned media are controlled by the government.”

On World Press Freedom Day, on 3 May, Reporters Without Borders pointed out that Mugabe is still on its list of 39 “Predators of Freedom of Expression” and drew up an indictment accusing him of suppressing freedom of expression, exercising strict control over the state media, constantly harassing the print media and being the architect of an extremely repressive media legislation.Read the indictment.

Arrests and harassment

In one of the latest examples of abusive arrests, Dumisani Muleya, the editor of the Zimbabwe Independent weekly, Owen Gagare, one of his reporters, and the newspaper’s secretary were arrested on 7 May for publishing “lies” in a front-page story by Gagare in the 26 April issue.

All three were held for seven hours in a Harare police station before being released. The two journalists were interrogated about their sources for the story, which said Tsvangirai had met secretly with senior military officers ahead of the coming elections.

The police were meanwhile threatening another Zimbabwe Independent reporter, Dingilizwe Ntuli, with a jail sentence for an article criticizing Harare’s police chief.

The privately-owned newspaper NewsDay has also been the target of police harassment.Ropafadzo Mapimhidze, a NewsDay reporter based in Masvingo, 300 km south of Harare, was summoned and questioned by the local police in February about one of her articles.

Daily News editor Stanley Gama was summoned to Masvingo the following month and asked to reveal his sources for an article about a resumption of terrorist activities in the area. Gama is currently accused of libelling a Zanu-PF representative in a report about the alleged rape of an 11-year-old girl.

Often threatened and interrogated and sometimes prosecuted, independent media personnel are hounded by the national police, the security forces and the Central Intelligence Organization, which follow orders from Mugabe and his aides.

Judicial dangers and repressive legislation

The two Zimbabwe Independent journalists have been formally charged by the police with “publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the state,” which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and the possibility of a heavy fine.

The criminal defamation legislation allows individuals to bring complaints against media and journalists before the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC), which monitors the media. Under the 2002 Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), the ZMC can close media that act “imprudently.” This provision is above all used when journalists cover cases of alleged corruption.

Information minister Webster Shamu reiterated the government’s position on media freedom and the protection of journalists at a news conference at Zanu-PF headquarters on 10 May: “I want to repeat that this country came about through the barrel of a gun. It cannot be taken by a pen, never.”

Woman at centre of "bunga bunga" sex trial gives sensational account of how guests partied at villa of Italy's ex-PM.

The nightclub dancer at the centre of the sex trial of Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister, has told a court that guests at the media tycoon's "bunga bunga" parties dressed as nuns, nurses and US President Barack Obama.

Morrocan-born Karima El Mahroug, better known by her stage name Ruby the Heartstealer, spoke on Friday as a witness in a trial at which several people are accused of inducing and aiding prostitution.

They include Lele Mora, a scout; Emilio Fede, a television anchor; and Nicole Minetti, a regional councillor and former showgirl.

Minetti was once Berlusconi's dental hygienist who graduated to a career in showbusiness and politics.

El Mahroug denied ever having sexual relations with Berlusconi, 76, and said she did not see him engaged in physical contact with other women at the parties.

Berlusconi is being tried separately for paying for sex with El Mahroug when she was a minor and then abusing office by having her freed from police custody after her arrest for theft.

Embarrassing appearance

El Mahroug's appearance is nevertheless an embarrassment for Berlusconi and a reminder of the legal threats that the billionaire businessman - who leads the centre-right and is a key partner in the governing coalition - faces.

A verdict in the sex trial is expected in June, and a conviction for tax fraud is moving to a final appeal.

Berlusconi says he has never paid for sex, denies any wrongdoing and says judges are politically motivated against him.

El Mahroug failed to appear as a witness at Berlusconi's trial in December because she was on holiday in Mexico.

In her Friday testimony, she challenged Berlusconi's assertion that events at his villa were elegant dinner parties.

Marysthelle Polanco, a glamour model and one of 14 women who became notorious after they were discovered to be housed at a Milan address at Berlusconi's expense, dressed up as Obama and Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho, according to El Mahroug.

On one occasion Minetti "dressed up as a nun ... and as she danced, she took off her clothes and was left in her underwear", El Mahroug told the court.

Cash in envelopes

Wearing a large grey scarf and her hair tied back in a sleek ponytail, she entered the Milan courtroom flanked by police, walking quickly past waiting journalists.

It was the first time she has testified about the parties.

El Mahroug said she received envelopes containing thousands of euros in cash from Berlusconi.

She said she spent the night at Berlusconi's villa on one occasion, after which she and several other women who had slept there shared breakfast with him.

El Mahroug was 17 when she attended the parties at the villa outside Milan.

She said she lied about her age and that she had told guests she was a relative of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's former president.

Berlusconi's defence against the abuse of office charge is that he acted under the belief that El Mahroug was related to Mubarak, and that he needed to free her from police custody to prevent a diplomatic upset.

The Muslim Council of Britain has said it will take action to prevent girls being "groomed" for sex.

Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra of the council said people were sometimes reluctant to speak out - but they have a "religious duty" to do so.

He said the council was working with groups including the NSPCC, police and Muslim organisations to educate people.

The action comes after high-profile sex abuse cases involving Muslim men in Rochdale and Derby.

"This is an appalling and abhorrent kind of behaviour which is totally unacceptable regardless of race or religion," said Sheikh Mogra, the MCB's Assistant Secretary General, on BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme.

"Some of those perpetrators who have recently been convicted happen to be from the Muslim community so we need to be at the very front of the voice that is condemning this."

Universal problem

Sheikh Mogra said grooming should be seen purely as criminal behaviour, and using "labels of race or religion" could "drive the problem deeper underground".

He said men who were grooming children and "profess to be following the religion of Islam" were really doing "exactly the opposite".

"They have used drugs, they have used alcohol, they have used prostitution and all kinds of other methods which are all forbidden within Islam," he went on.

The Muslim Council of Britain is planning a national conference to educate people about grooming, and Sheikh Mogra said the message would be very clear.

"You cannot hide these criminals within your ranks; it is your duty to come out and speak out against it because that is what Islam requires of you," he said.

Split views

After the Rochdale case, in which nine men, mainly of Pakistani origin, were convicted of grooming and abusing five white girls, there was a debate about whether race was an issue in such cases.

Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of The Ramadhan Foundation, which aims to promote better understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims, said on-street grooming was "a significant problem for the British Pakistani community".

"There should be no silence in addressing the issue of race as this is central to the actions of these criminals," he said.

"They think that white teenage girls are worthless and can be abused without a second thought; it is this sort of behaviour that is bringing shame on our community."

But police said grooming was "not a racial issue", with Assistant Chief Constable Steve Heywood, of Greater Manchester Police, saying the case was about "adults preying on vulnerable young children".

"It just happens that in this particular area and time, the demographics were that these were Asian men," he said.

MP Keith Vaz also said "no particular race or religion" tended to be involved.

"There is no excuse for this kind of criminality, whoever is involved in it, but I don't think it is a particular group of people, I don't think it's a particular race or religion," he said.

A court in Istanbul, Turkey made a landmark ruling saying that gay sex is natural

An Istanbul court of the first instance delivered a landmark ruling saying that gay sex is natural, contradicting a previous ruling by Turkey's supreme court.

Yesterday’s (18 February) ruling regarded a trader who was caught selling 125 DVDs of gay and group sex porn.

The person, known only by his initials, DM, faced up to four years imprisonment according to article 262/2 of the Turkish penal code that prohibits owning, trafficking, distributing and publishing ‘unnatural sex’ videos.

Judge Mahmut Erdemli, however, ruled that sexual orientation can not be considered as ‘unnatural’ and should be respected.

The ruling contradicted a previous decision of Turkey’s supreme court that did include gay sex in the category of ‘unnatural sex’.

In support of his decision Erdemli cited examples of the legality of gay marriages in Europe and North America.

Erdemli differentiated gay sex from necrophilia and bistiality which he agreed were right to be classified as ‘unnatural’.

Erdemli was quoted by the daily Haber Turk as saying: ‘Today, it is possible to have gay marriages in modern countries.

'International regulations prohibit discrimination regarding peoples’ sexual preference, and it is therefore an obligation to respect their sexual orientation...

‘In this respect, most of the European countries see gay relationships as equivalent to marriage...

‘Contemporary societies allow [gay relationships] to achieve this legal status and therefore the contents of the DVDs can not be seen as unnatural’.

The court did not find DM guilty of selling 'unnatural' porn but of ‘unauthorized’ selling of porn with a punishment of 8 months imprisonment.

Turkey’s criminal division of the supreme court, however, criticized the ruling saying that gay and group sex are unnatural and that the court was wrong not to accept them as a crime.

Last year, in a ruling on a similar case of porn videos sales, Turkey’s supreme court of appeals in Ankara (the country's capital) ruled as ‘unnatural’ any acts of gay sex, oral, anal or group sex - including SM - as well as necrophilia and bestiality.

The supreme court provided for the imprisonment of any persons in possession of videos depicting such sex scenes on the basis of Article 262/2 of the Turkish criminal code.

The court set a minimum punishment of one year, and a maximum of four years imprisonment.

The supreme court’s ruling of 2012 rejected a six-month sentence imposed by a provincial court for the selling of pornographic videos with ‘unnatural’ content saying the ruling was too lenient.

A spokesperson for Turkish LGBT rights group KAOS GL told GayStarNews: ‘The decision given by the court yesterday is not binding.

‘However it is a positive development that may affect a future ruling by Turkey’s supreme court.

‘Even if the supreme court will not accept this ruling - this sets a very positive precedent for future cases’.

The results of the study suggested a link between consumption of porn and support for equal marriage

New research suggests that the more pornography consumed by straight men, the less likely they are to be opposed to equal marriage.

The new study, published in the Communication Research journal, suggests that the more straight men watch porn, the more likely they are to support equal marriage.

According to the study the link is made because porn opens up the mind of straight people to be more accepting of “non-traditional sexual situations”, such as gay sex.

“Our study suggests that the more heterosexual men, especially less educated heterosexual men, watch pornography, the more supportive they become of same-sex marriage,” Indiana University Assistant Professor Paul Wright told The Washington Examiner.

Mr Wright goes on to say: ”Pornography adopts an individualistic, nonjudgmental stance on all kinds of nontraditional sexual behaviors and same-sex marriage attitudes are strongly linked to attitudes about same-sex sex.

“If people think individuals should be able to decide for themselves whether to have same-sex sex, they will also think that individuals should be able to decide for themselves whether to get married to a partner of the same-sex.”

He added: “Since a portion of individuals’ sexual attitudes come from the media they consume, it makes sense that pornography viewers would have more positive attitudes towards same-sex marriage.”

The results of the study, which was co-authored by Ashley Randall of the University of Arizona, were gathered by studying 500 straight men over six years.

“Pornography consumption did predict over-time increases in support for same-sex marriage,” the duo found.

A new survey of gay and bisexual men commissioned in the US shows almost half report having unprotected sex at some point.

New York’s Community Healthcare Network (CHN) focused on men who use apps such as Grindr, Scruff and Manhunt to meet sexual partners for its survey of 725 men, Canadian website Xtra reports.

The focus of the survey, which received responses from men in Australia, South America, Eastern Europe, the UK, Canada, and predominantly in the US, was to gain insight into men’s perspectives on HIV and unprotected sex.

It also included an optional section asking respondents why they might take risks during sex.

However, almost 47% of respondents admit to barebacking “always, often or sometimes,” while almost 54% say they never have unprotected anal intercourse.

Renato Barucco, from CHN, said respondents have unprotected sex primarily because condoms don’t feel good (almost 85%); they act impulsively (74%); or they are under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Given the high rates of at least occasional barebacking, the CHN researchers recommend increased use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) pills in the gay community.

The paper printed five striking photos of the head of Cranes football team allegedly in the process of ‘sodomising’ a young team player.

The photos detailed the alleged sexual acts with captions designed to outrage the country’s conservative population: ‘MASTER AT WORK: Mubiru nails the boys butt’, ‘shafting’ and ‘hurting the boy’, to finally ‘END GAME: The boy struggles to stand up after the bum shattering session.’

The alleged ‘young player’ was not identified nor could the validity of the pictures be ascertained.

No statement has been issued by the Crane’s football team at the time of publishing this story.

Speaking with Gay Star News, Denis Nizoka, editor of Identity Kenya said: ‘This was clearly designed to provoke a moral outrage about what is seen as a bastion of male sportsmanship – the country’s top football team.'

Uganda’s Parliament resumed work Tuesday (4 December) and are poised to debate the country's 'Kill the Gays Bill' any time now.

The proposed law would give life in jail for gay sex and even the death penalty for ‘aggravated homosexuality’.

It is being pushed through by the Speaker of the Uganda Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga who has promised the law as a ‘Christmas present’ to her supporters.

If passed, men or women who have gay sex could be imprisoned for life – even if he or she merely ‘touches another person with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality’.

Those guilty of ‘aggravated homosexuality’ include HIV positive people who have gay sex or ‘serial offenders’ will face the capital punishment.

Red Pepper routinely carries stories outing prominent figures.

It’s last major anti-gay campaigns however occurred in April and December of 2009, according to Box Turtle Bulletin.

In August 2006, Red Pepper published the first names and occupations of prominent Ugandan men whom it asserted were homosexual.

This decision was sharply criticized by rights groups which said that the move could expose the men to harassment by the government, as homosexuality in Uganda remains illegal.

The following month, it published a similar list of 13 women whom it claimed were lesbians.

In an interview published in May 2009, the news editor of Red Pepper, Ben Byarabaha, vowed that the tabloid would continue its campaign against alleged homosexuals by publishing their names, photographs and addresses.